Hell With the Lid Blown Off (27 page)

Coleman started to protest, but Wallace cut him off. “Please, do me this favor. There's nothing else you can do.”

We left Coleman beside the wagon, looking unhappy, and I followed Wallace as he walked to the coach house to get his horse. “What is your grandmother going to think when you don't come back tomorrow?” I asked. “You can't keep this a secret from her.”

He didn't look at me. “I'll figure that out when I have to. Let her have every minute of peace she can get until that happens.”

Alafair Tucker

“What makes you think that poor dear Mr. Eichelberger saw anything that night, Alafair?”

“He refuses to say who met Jubal on the road. But he knows. ‘Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you.' That's what he said to me. Miz Beckie, I have to tell Trent about Mr. Eichelberger, and Trent is going to press him until he tells what he knows. I had to warn you, ma'am. In fact when I got to town this afternoon, I found out that Trent is already questioning Randal about that night, and plans to question Wallace next, if he ain't already. It's going to come out, who killed Jubal Beldon.”

Beckie flopped back down in her armchair, hopeless. “No it isn't. The only thing that's going to come out is the wrong thing. Wallace didn't kill Jubal, but if the law confronts him he may say that he did. I know my grandson. He will protect someone he cares for.”

Alafair's heart skipped a beat. “You know who it was? It was Randal?”

Beckie laughed at that. “I wish it had been. That would solve everything. No, Randal Wakefield didn't do it either. It was I who plunged the knife into that evil man's leg.”

“Oh, Miz Beckie, no!” The two women started and turned to see Ruth standing in the parlor door, pale with shock and clutching a sheet of piano music to her chest. She was not having it. “Mama, she's lying! She's the one who's trying to protect Wallace. Tell her not to do it!”

“Ruth, hush!” Alafair scolded. “Miz Beckie, if you are trying to protect Wallace, it's a foolish thing to do. The truth always comes to light.”

Beckie's smile had no humor behind it. “I know it does. Come in, Ruth dear. You may as well hear this.”

Ruth sat stiffly on the ottoman at her mother's knee. Grace was wide awake now, sitting straight up on Alafair's lap with a look of interest, as though she understood the situation perfectly.

Beckie leaned back and got comfortable before she began her tale. There was no tension in her expression anymore. There was no point.

“You were right when you said that Jubal threatened my boy, Alafair. He came by the house Sunday afternoon and confronted Wallace and Randal in the backyard. Wallace gave him all the money he had saved for his trip, trying to buy his silence. I heard the entire exchange. After Jubal left, we figured he might go straight to the sheriff with his infamous insinuation, even though he had been paid. So we made a plan. Wallace and that friend of his took the shay and headed for Muskogee, where they could take the train out of state the next morning.

“I planned to walk into town and catch the eight-thirty to Muskogee myself. The boys were to leave the buggy at Wallace Junior's house, and get the first train out of Muskogee going anywhere far away. I had no idea they went looking for that evil man first. Thank God they didn't find him. I thought that after the boys were long gone, I'd tell my son that I intended to sell the house and move to Muskogee to be near him and his wife. He's been after me to do that very thing for a long time. I planned to suggest to Junior that one of his agents could take care of the sale and move my furniture so that I would never have to come back to Boynton again. I didn't want Junior to get wind of why we left so hastily. Him and his son don't get on that well in any event. He'd disown the boy if he believed the rumor was true. And I think he would believe it.”

“Miz Beckie,” Ruth interrupted, “what could Wallace have possibly done that is so bad his own father would disown him?”

“Never you mind, Ruth dear. Perhaps it isn't even true.” Her expression said she feared it was true, though. “Nothing vicious or cruel, I assure you. I packed a bag and left the house for the station at about an hour before the train was due. Then when I got to the junction I turned right, toward the Beldon place, instead of going straight on into town. I don't know what I aimed to do. I didn't know for sure if Jubal would follow through on his threat, but I expected he would. It's miles to the Beldon place and I had a train to catch, but I had to try one more time to save my boy.

“Anyhow, it turned out that I didn't have to walk all that way after all. I had almost reached the junction to the Morris road when I saw Jubal on that roan of his, coming out of the Eichelberger farm. Like I said, I didn't have a plan. But he saw me and came toward me. I nearly lost my nerve, but then I figured what more could he do to me? Kill me? It would have been a relief.

“So he says to me, ‘Howdy, Miz MacKenzie. I figured you'd be coming by to see me directly.'

“I asked him what he wanted to leave us alone. He told me that Wallace had given him two hundred dollars and a good idea, and he reckoned that if I was as eager to buy his silence, he might keep his newfound knowledge to himself. If he had enough money he might even decide to go to Chicago and live in style.”

Alafair was listening to Beckie's story with a look of skepticism on her face. She still thought it likely that Beckie was attempting to take the blame for her grandson. But Beckie misinterpreted her expression.

“It's not like I believed him, Alafair. I knew that even if I gave Jubal every dollar I possess, he'd hold that scandalous libel over our heads for the rest of his life. But what could I do? I told him I'd pay him anything he wanted. I said I had near to twenty dollars on me and I could get more from the bank come Monday. Five hundred dollars, I said. I put my carpet bag on the ground and started digging around in my pocketbook for my money purse, and that's when I found it. My da's
sgian dubh
.

“I didn't even think. I pulled it out and stabbed that scoundrel in the thigh. He screeched like a banshee and I went to stab him again, but his horse shied and I stabbed the poor creature in the hip. He went to bucking like a wild unbroke mustang, and Jubal was flung right off on his head. He didn't even have time to brace himself. The horse took off across a field, and I never saw him more.

“Jubal broke his neck. I could tell right away he was dead. I stood there shocked to my soul at what I had done. I don't know how long I stood there, but the Eichelbergers must have heard the ruckus, because they both came running. I expected I was doomed, but you know, neither of them even asked me what happened. Mr. Eichelberger even laughed when he saw Jubal lying there dead. Dear Miz Eichelberger looked relieved. The worst part of it, Alafair dear, is that I was relieved, too. I came very near to falling on my knees to offer up a prayer of thanks for our delivery, but truth is I knew the Lord didn't approve of my action. I couldn't help myself, though. The three of us dragged the body back up the drive, and Mr. Eichelberger put him in one of his storage sheds. He told me not to fret myself about it for even one minute. He said he was going to dig a hole in the woods and bury the body where nobody would ever find it.”

A feeling of uncertainly began to niggle at Alafair. Was Miz Beckie's story true after all? If Eichelberger had hidden the body in one of his sheds, and the shed was blown to bits in the storm, that would explain a lot.

“Miz Eichelberger asked me to come inside and rest my nerves, but I told them I had a train to catch and walked back home. I washed my face and hands and got to the station in time to get the train.

“When I got to my son's house a little after nine, the shay was parked behind his house. The boys had intended to resume their trip to Colorado that very night and didn't mean to tarry. But I pulled Wallace aside and told him what had happened. There was no reason to worry about Jubal Beldon anymore. I expect he talked it over with his friend Randal, and that's when they decided to join up while they were in Muskogee.

“I didn't have anything to say about that. I had a visit with Junior and my daughter-in-law and headed for home on Monday evening. Just in time to nearly get blown away.

“When I found out that the Eichelbergers' place was destroyed and that Jubal's body had been found in a field, I didn't imagine anyone would suspect me or my boy either. I figured the sheriff wouldn't think other than Jubal was killed in the storm.”

She smiled. “I almost got away with it. But of course sin always comes to light. I'd do it again though, God forgive me. I don't care about myself. I'm old, but Wallace has his whole life ahead of him.”

Alafair was stunned. She had been so certain that Wallace and his friend were the culprits and both Beckie and Mr. Eichelberger were covering for them. Could it really have been the other way around?

There was a long silence after Beckie finished, broken only by a sniffle from Ruth. Until Marva Welsh rushed into the room, breathless. “Miz Beckie, Coleman come in the kitchen and told me that Deputy Calder just arrested Mr. Wallace for stabbing Jubal Beldon! Mr. Wallace didn't want Coleman to tell you that he is in custody, but I figure you ought to know. Miz Beckie, I don't think he done it. I saw Mr. Wallace and his friend go by the house in a big hurry on Sunday evening, heading toward Muskogee in that yellow-topped shay. I was surprised to see them because I thought they were already long gone. Then at least two hours after that, Coleman and me saw Jubal Beldon on the road west of town. He was still alive after Mr. Wallace left town.”

Beckie stood up, full of purpose. “Oh, that foolish boy! What is he thinking? Well, ladies, I hope you'll be so kind as to accompany me to the sheriff's office. It's time for me to clear this matter up.”

Trenton Calder

I locked Wallace in the cell next to Randal and went back out into the front office to write up a report for Scott. I had barely sat down before a covey of ladies flocked through the door and arrayed themselves in front of the desk. Ruth was one of them, and Marva Coleman, and Miz Tucker, holding her littlest one, Grace, on her hip. It was Miz Beckie MacKenzie who stepped forward and laid out the whole story of how she stabbed Jubal Beldon.

I was thunderstruck, and at first I didn't believe her. Marva told me about seeing Jubal alive after Wallace had left town, but as far as I was concerned, that didn't prove anything. The boys could easily have circled back later. But then Miz Tucker told me what Mr. Eichelberger had said to her, and how she suspected he saw the whole incident, I began to reconsider. I told the ladies to sit themselves down while I went back to the cells and put the question to my prisoners. Miz MacKenzie wanted to protest, but Miz Tucker and Marva persuaded her that argument would do no good.

I opened the cell door and stepped in. Wallace stood up to meet me. I could tell that he was still resigned to a bad fate, and I was a little surprised. The boys had to have heard women's voices coming through the office, though they wouldn't have been able to understand what was being said. Still, it seemed to me that news flew on wings around Boynton, and everybody knew everything as fast as it happened.

“Wallace, your grandma is in the office along with Miz Tucker and Ruth, and Marva, too.”

His spine stiffened as he braced himself. “So. What is Grandmother saying?”

In the next cell, Randal Wakefield stood up from his cot and came over to the bars to listen.

“Wallace, your grandma just now confessed that it was her who stuck Jubal Beldon that night.”

He plopped himself back down on the cot like a bag of rocks. His eyes watered up, but he didn't let himself cry.

I moved up close so that I was standing over him. “What do you have to say about that?”

He looked at me with a quizzical expression, like he didn't have the foggiest idea what I meant. “It must be perfectly obvious even to you that she's trying to save me.”

“Wallace, if you mean to take the blame for your grandmother, that does you credit. But there's no reason to protect her, now. I know that it was her who slid that knife into Beldon, and not you…”

“Don't be ridiculous,” he interrupted, but I just went on like I hadn't heard.

“…because Mr. Eichelberger saw the whole thing.” I fudged that fact a little bit. I didn't mention that Miz Tucker told me the old man wasn't talking. Not yet, anyway. “Did you really think your grandma would let you go to prison? You are the apple of her eye.”

He drew back like I had slapped him in the face. “Mr. Eichelberger?” His voice was squeaky.

Randal gripped the bars. “Wallace…”

Wallace cut him off. “Shut up, Randy.” He turned back to me. “They're in cahoots. All right, maybe Eichelberger saw something. My grandma somehow convinced him to say it was her. She's trying to take the blame, I'm telling you…”

“Like you're doing right now? And not very convincingly, either. Wallace, what's done is done. She was seen. And considering how it happened and why—and who got killed—I doubt your grandma will do much time. If any. Why don't you tell me what really happened when you went out to the Beldon place?”

It took him a long time to make up his mind. He looked up at his pal who was still standing in the next cell. I thought about asking Randal to tell me the truth, but I figured he was too loyal to say anything Wallace didn't want him to. I didn't have anywhere to go, so I just stood there like a dummy until Wallace finally began to speak.

“I meant to kill him, you know. I had a gun in my pocket.” That was the first thing he said, then he clammed up for a while before the next sentence dribbled out. “He came to Grandmother's house after the picnic. I gave him a lot money and promised him a lot more. But I knew that wouldn't be the end of it.”